A former police officer has been jailed for 10 years and six months after leading a paddleboarding expedition on a rain-swollen river that ended in four people losing their lives.
Nerys Lloyd, 39, pleaded guilty to four counts of gross negligence manslaughter and a Health and Safety at Work offence over the tragedy on the River Cleddau in Haverfordwest, south-west Wales.
Morgan Rogers, 24, Nicola Wheatley, 40, Andrea Powell, 41, and Lloyd’s co-instructor Paul O’Dwyer, 42, a former soldier, died in October 2021.
Mrs Justice Stacey told Swansea crown court she would be released no later than two-thirds of the way through her sentence and the remainder would be served on licence in the community.
The judge told Lloyd the group had put its trust in her but she had failed to check the state of the weir and it would not have been possible for a paddleboard to navigate the structure when the current was so strong and volume of water so large.
Stacey said that after falling from their boards, the party was caught in a “hydraulic spin”, comparing it to a washing machine.
She highlighted that none of the participants had the right sort of paddleboard leash for the conditions they faced – they had ankle leashes rather than quick-release waist ones.
Stacey said that as a firearms officer and an RNLI volunteer Lloyd should have been “well versed” in health and safety issues. “You knew what you should do but failed to do it.”
In a statement to the judge, Lloyd said she took “full blame” for the failures but David Elias KC, for the defendant, said the plan had not been for the party to go over the weir but get out and walk around it.
The judge disagreed this had been the plan – otherwise she would have told the group this was what was going to happen. “There was no clear plan to walk around,” the judge said.
Stacey said Lloyd had painted a “false narrative” of what happened and tried to “disproportionately” blame O’Dwyer for the tragedy. “You were the owner [of the paddleboard business]. He lost his life trying to save others,” the judge said.
During an emotional two-day sentencing hearing at Swansea crown court, relatives of the victims claimed Lloyd was arrogant to guide the group despite the stormy conditions and her lack of expertise, and said she had shown no remorse over her failings.
Lloyd, who had been at the front of the party, managed to navigate a weir in the river by shooting through a fish ramp.
But other participants fell from their boards after plunging 1.3 metres over the weir. The court heard almost 2 tonnes of water was crossing a 1 metre-wide section of the weir crest every second. O’Dwyer scrambled out but died after going back into the water to try to save the others, who were all described as either beginner or intermediate paddleboarders.
The court heard that Lloyd was suspended from South Wales police at the time of the tragedy after accepting a caution for a fraudulent insurance claim involving a vehicle.
She had advertised the River Cleddau trip on Facebook for £149 a person to include overnight accommodation and supervision by two “fully” qualified instructors.
But Lloyd did not carry out risk assessments or obtain next-of-kin details for the victims – leading to a delay in contacting some family members, the court heard.
The incident led to calls for regulations around paddleboarding to be tightened.
Darren Wheatley, the husband of Nicola Wheatley, said: “Losing Nicola has devastated our family and two young children lost their mammy.
“Nicola died in circumstances that were completely avoidable and should not have happened. Decisions made by Nerys Lloyd, and only Nerys Lloyd, led to the four lives lost.
“Any sentence served by Nerys in prison will never ease the pain of losing Nicola, and our lives will never be the same again.”
One woman who was part of the group but survived, Melody Johns, told the court: “Paddleboarding is largely unregulated and boards are still being sold without quick-release leashes that can save lives. Many people are continuing to buy boards without much thought about safety. Something needs to change.”
